


She Makes Me Quiet

by kirani



Series: Quiet [1]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Developing Relationship, Engagement, Established Relationship, F/M, Flashbacks, Fluff, Future Fic, Long-Distance Relationship, Marriage Proposal, Meeting the Parents, Mention of Gansey's Temporary Death, Non-Linear Narrative, Panic Attacks, Surprises, Tarot, background pynch
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-23 13:21:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 10,836
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18550615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kirani/pseuds/kirani
Summary: When Blue Sargent finds an engagement ring hidden in the sock drawer of her boyfriend of seven years, she calls her best friend, Adam,and together they hatch a plan to beat Gansey to the punch, er, proposal.~Written for the Raven Cycle Big Bang.Art byGibby!Five million thanks to my amazing betaAbby!





	1. Chapter 1

Blue was being a nice girlfriend and putting away Gansey’s clean laundry when she found it. 

“What the--?” 

But it was obvious what it was -- a ring box. She fiddled with it for a moment, trying to decide if she wanted to open it and spoil the surprise, but in the end, she just tucked it back into the drawer and walked away. 

She couldn’t stop thinking about it, was the thing. 

They’d talked about marriage in a “someday” kind of way. An “after we’ve graduated” and an “after we get established in our careers” kind of a way. Not in any sort of concrete way. 

They had almost talked about it last fall. Blue had been so sure the romantic picnic had been a set up to a proposal, but he had just mumbled something about having thought about it sometimes but no, not today. 

They didn’t need a curse to tell them that they were it for each other. They never had. But marriage? They were only 25! 

So Blue did what she often did when she needed to talk things out. She called Adam.

“Hello?”

“Has Gansey said anything to you about marriage?” she jumped right in. 

“Well, that would be pretty odd seeing as he’s probably planning to marry you, not me.”

“Very funny, Parrish,” Blue scoffed.

“And hello to you, too. What’s all this about marriage? Did he propose?”

“No, but, well,” Blue toyed with a fraying edge of her sweater. “I found a ring box.”

“Oh,” Adam breathed. “And you’re sure--?”

“I’m sure. I didn’t open it but I’m sure.”

“Well, he hasn’t said anything about it to me. Do you want me to ask Ronan?”

“No,” Blue said quickly. 

“Do you  _ want _ to marry him?” Adam asked after a pause. 

“I--,” Blue started. “I guess I always thought of it as far away. We always talked about it as this thing far in the future.”

“Blue, you’ve been together for over seven years. It is the far future.”

“What do you think?”

Adam laughed over the line. “It’s not about what I think, Blue. Are you ready to get married?”

“I’m ready to be with Gansey for the rest of my life, if that’s what you mean,” Blue smiled as she spoke. It was the truth. 

“Well that was so sweet it gave me cavities. But I think it’s your answer.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. Let him plan you a big surprise proposal. You know he will.”

“Or,” Blue began. 

“Or what? If you tell him you found the ring he’ll just get all sad.”

“Or I beat him to it,” Blue grinned. “I get my own ring, I plan my own proposal. You know Gansey would wear an engagement ring.”

“That’s true,” Adam said slowly. “And it does fit the two of you.”

“Exactly.”

“You’ll have to act fast though, if he already has the ring.”

“And that’s where you come in, my friend.”

“Oh no,” Adam groaned. 

“Oh yes,” Blue said. “It’s gonna the best proposal ever. You can get Ronan to distract Gansey while we shop for the ring. And we’ll pick the best location. I’ll write a speech. It’ll be wonderful.”

“There’s no convincing you to just let him propose, is there?”

“Why would I do that? I’m a modern woman, I don’t need to wait around for him to propose. I’m taking it into my own hands!”

Adam sighed. “Alright. I’ll come down on Saturday to help you shop.”

“You’re the best!” 

~

“Adam wants to come down to Charlottesville on Saturday,” Ronan told Gansey over the phone. 

“Alright,” Gansey grinned to himself and tried not to sound too excited, lest Ronan makes fun of him. “Something, in particular, you’re coming down for? I assume you’re coming too.”

“He didn’t say. But something with just him and Blue. Figured we could finally hash out that plan of yours.”

“Excellent.”

“I was afraid you’d say that,” Ronan groans. “See you Saturday, Dick.”

Gansey smiled to himself, knowing that Ronan wasn’t really as put out as he pretended, thinking of the ring hidden in his sock drawer. 

“What are you smiling about?” Blue asked as she wrapped herself around him from behind like a snuggly octopus. 

“Ronan and Adam are coming up Saturday.”

“I know.”

“I’m just happy to see my friends.”

“That’s not what that smile meant,” Blue teased.

Gansey turned around in her arms and Blue loosened her hold to let him spin. He wrapped his own arms around her and smiled down at his wonderful girlfriend. 

“I’ll tell you later. What are you and Adam planning? Ronan didn’t know.”

“Just a little shopping, don’t worry about it.”

“Ah, I can see why Ronan would tune that out. Mister ‘I only wear one color of clothing even though I bake in the Virginia heat’.”

Blue giggled into his chest. 

“You’ll keep him company while I drag Adam off, won’t you?”

“Of course, Jane,” he agreed, pressing a kiss to her hair.


	2. Chapter 2

After. 

After Gansey had died. 

After the deal had been struck and Gansey had been given back to her. 

After they had all gone back to 300 Fox Way and Maura had fussed over their aches and pains.

After they had all slept like the dead -- even Gansey, even Ronan -- Blue and Maura closed themselves in the reading room. 

They sat down at the table and Maura handed Blue her deck.

She shuffled, watching her mother’s blank face, and handed it back to her.

“Three cards, I think,” Maura mused as she took the deck. She pulled the top card from the deck and laid it to her right -- her past.

The world stared up at Blue from the table. Blue nodded. The world represented completion, accomplishment, or fulfillment.

Maura turned the next card over -- her present.

The ace of swords joined the line. It represented clarity and self-realization. Blue nodded again.

Finally, Maura placed the future card in the line. The nine of cups sat happily on the table. It represented love and fulfilling relationships.

Maura looked at each card again and then began to interpret. 

“The completion of your journey,” she tapped the world card. “The end of a long road. It could be talking about the search for Glendower but given the rest of the spread, I believe it is referring to your curse. You completed the prophesied kiss, you killed your true love, it has been fulfilled.”

She moved her finger to the middle card. “In the present, we have the ace of swords. Clarity, cutting through the confusion. In this spread, we are asking whether your kiss will still harm your true love. I think paired with the world, this suggests the curse is over and future kisses are safe.”

“And finally, the nine of cups,” Maura smiled. “Love and peace. A happy relationship. A final confirmation that you can move past the curse and be with your true love.”

Blue studied each card again before meeting her mother’s eye.

“You’re sure.”

“I’m sure, daughter.”

Blue finally let herself smile and she stood, hugging Maura before bolting from the room. 

She entered the kitchen in a flurry of fabric, her skirt of the day made of a hundred scraps of fabric knotted together. 

The boys were all seated around the kitchen table, Ronan and Adam sitting closer than necessary but acting as though they weren’t, and Henry across from them. Gansey was leaning against the countertop. When she entered, he straightened up and looked at her. 

“So?”

In answer, Blue crossed the room, reached a hand up to Gansey’s neck, and pulled him into a kiss. 

She felt him stiffen under her hand for a split second until he realized that they were safe, and then he melted into the kiss. Blue felt his arms wrap around her waist and she raised her other hand to his chest, hand smoothing over the embroidered logo on his breast. 

She kissed him until she had to come up for air and then he leaned his forehead against hers and grinned down at her. 

“All good,” Blue whispered into the space between them.

Behind them, Henry and Adam broke into a slow clap and Ronan rolled his eyes. 

Blue giggled and kissed Gansey again, just once. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for mild alcohol consumption, they literally have a single beer

That Saturday, Adam and Ronan had barely walked in the door before Blue whisked Adam off.

“Hi, Gansey, bye, Gansey,” Adam called with a chuckle. 

Ronan offered his fist and Gansey bumped it. 

Then he grinned. Ronan rolled his eyes. 

The door closed behind Blue and Adam and Gansey leads the way to the bedroom, opening his sock drawer. He shuffled the contents around as Ronan wandered into the room behind him, finally locating the black velvet box.

Ronan plucked it out of his hands and cracked it open. The ring was nestled into a pillow inside the box, yellow gold and glinting with a large circular emerald with tiny diamonds set into the band on either side. 

“It was my maternal grandmother’s engagement ring, though it wasn’t hers first. I’m fairly certain my grandfather reset the emerald from his grandmother or something like that. There was a matching wedding band but, well, she’s still wearing it. Both of them requested to be buried in their rings. So I just got the engagement ring.”

Ronan nodded as he studied it.

“So what do you think? It’s not too much for Jane, is it?”

Ronan finally looked up. “It’s beautiful, Dick.”

Gansey rolled his eyes. 

“Really, she’s gonna love it. Glad it’s not a diamond though. She’d throw a fit.”

“I know. Those are diamonds on the sides but it’s an heirloom; I’m not going to strip it. 

“Will it fit?”

Gansey nodded. “I had it resized. Took one of her rings from her jewelry box and had them match it.”

“Clever.”

Gansey shrugged and took the box back, snapping it shut and tucking it back into the drawer. He grabbed a legal pad off the desk in the front room as he led the way to the kitchen table. 

“So what do you have so far?” Ronan asked. 

“Absolutely nothing,” Gansey groaned and laid his head down on the table. 

Ronan laughed, short and loud. “Nothing?”

Gansey didn’t look up.

“You sure you’re ready for this?” Ronan asked a little more quietly.

“Yes,” Gansey finally met his eye. “I’ve never been more sure about anything. I just want it to be perfect, you know?”

Ronan nodded.

“Alright. Let’s take it from the top. Favorite flowers?”

Gansey shook his head. 

“She hates flowers.”

“How do you hate flowers? That’s a classic!” 

“The flower industry is bad for the environment.”

“Okay, fine. No flowers. What about locations? Where would be the best place? A favorite restaurant? Or… where was your first date?”

“I dunno, I guess in the Camaro.”

“You sly dog,” Ronan smirked.

“Not like that!” Gansey blushed pink. “We just… we used to drive around, doing nothing, just holding hands and talking. That was most of our early dates.”

“Okay, so not that. She wouldn’t be able to hear the romantic speech we’re going to write.”

“Be nice to the Pig,” Gansey scowled. 

“What about around here? Where’s your fancy date spots? I know you have them.”

“We’ve got some nice restaurants and stuff. But that doesn’t seem like the kind of proposal Blue would like.”

“Fair point.”

“What about Henrietta?”

“Like, in general?”

Gansey shrugged again. “It’s where it all began. It seems appropriate.”

“It does,” Ronan agreed. 

“That’s settled then. Maybe a picnic or something. But out in Henrietta.”

Ronan clapped him on the shoulder, rising from the table, as Gansey scribbled down “Location: Henrietta” on the first line of the legal pad. Ronan opened the fridge and pulled out two beers. 

“What is this stuff? IPAs? How very pretentious of you.”

“Like you’re picky.”

“Didn’t say I was,” Ronan said as he cracked the tops off two bottles, putting one beside Gansey and offering his bottle for a toast. “To finally popping the question.”

Gansey clinked his bottle and took a long swig. 

“Like you two are any better. When are you gonna propose, anyway?”

Ronan shrugged. “Don’t think we’re the marrying type.”

Gansey raised his eyebrows. “You’ve talked about it?”

“Course we’ve fucking talked about it,” Ronan scoffed. “We’ve been together for seven fucking years. That kind of thing comes up.”

Gansey studied his beer bottle.

“Wait, have you talked about it? Do you even know if Maggot wants to get married?”

“We have,” Gansey nodded. “But it’s always been kind of vague terms. Somedays and after school and stuff. We haven’t talked… specifics, you know?”

Ronan nodded. “I think you’re gonna be just fine.”

“I hope so,” Gansey said, his voice small. “She’s everything.”

“Gross,” Ronan replied, but he was grinning when Gansey looked up. “Alright, so, drive her down to Henrietta, have some romantic as fuck picnic spread, then what?”

Gansey ran his thumb along his bottom lip. “Tell her how much she means to me. Get down on one knee. Ask her to marry me.”

“You gonna do that on the fly?”

Gansey groaned. “I should write it out, shouldn’t I?”

Ronan nodded. “Yup.”

Reaching for his pen, Gansey thought back to everything they’d done together, everything they were together, and started writing. 

Ronan watched him as he scribbled, crossed out, rewrote, and scribbled some more, for nearly an hour. 

“Gansey,” Ronan finally interrupted. Gansey looked up. “It doesn’t have to be perfect right now.”

Gansey pushed up his glasses and rubbed at his eyes. “You’re right.”

“Let’s put this away for now. We don’t know when they’ll be back.”

“Alright,” Gansey agreed. He tucked the legal pad into his desk drawer, face down just in case, and followed Ronan to the couch, where he had already turned on the TV. He flipped through channels aimlessly as Gansey settled in. 

After a moment, he spoke again. “Ronan?”

Ronan hummed absently. 

“What if she says no?”

Ronan looked over to him. 

“Richard Gansey, you beautiful man, she is your literal True Love. Your soulmate. You two are predestined and shit. She won’t say no.”

“But what if she doesn’t want to get married? What if I was just assuming she did? What if she wants to live out of wedlock forever?”

“Wow, you don’t hear the word wedlock used much anymore,” Ronan teased. “You said you’d talked about it. What did she say when you did?”

“She said she wasn’t ready yet, but maybe after school. And after we’d both gotten our degrees and stuff. But maybe she was just pushing me off so she didn’t have to talk about it.”

“When has Blue Sargent ever not told you when she thought you were wrong about something?” Ronan laughed. 

Gansey smiled softly. “I suppose.”

“Don’t you ‘I suppose’ me, I’m right, dammit! If that woman didn’t want to get married, to you or otherwise, she would have told you. Multiple times. Probably with very colorful language. She’d have a regular rant about the institution of marriage. About the wedding industry. Whatever it was. You would know. And you would know because you know her.”

“What if she’s still not ready, though? What if I’m rushing this?”

“Then you have a long engagement. You two will figure it out. You’ve been through all sorts of shit, including your literal death, and you’re stronger for it. You did long-distance. She met your  _ family  _ for Christ’s sake. Don’t lose faith on me now, Dick. You guys are solid.”

“You’re right.”

“Fucking right I am.”

“Thanks, Ronan.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tw for a panic attack

In college, Blue and Gansey had been near each other,  but never near enough. 

Gansey drove to Charlottesville one weekend a month, but even then they spent most of the weekend studying. Occasionally Blue took the Amtrak to Richmond, but she didn’t have a car since she lived and worked on campus and didn’t see the point. Plus: Driving. Ew.

They still talked on the phone every night they could, as they had when they were only across town from one another. 

They wanted to spend summers together, but Blue had to go back to Henrietta to work and Gansey had to fulfill Gansey Family Obligations, including parties, internships, and travel. 

But he always came to Henrietta for at least two straight weeks and any other weekend he could get away. 

Late in their freshman year, they had their worst fight yet. They had been playing phone tag for nearly a week and Gansey had finally picked up when Blue called only to prattle on about his family vacation plans. 

“Did it ever occur to you to invite me to that?” Blue finally interrupted.

“What?”

“You keep going on and on about this vacation, and, Jesus, Dick, I haven’t gotten to talk to you all week and  _ that’s _ the topic you’re going with? And all I’m hearing is how great your time even further away than usual is going to be and not once have you asked me to come vacation with your family or even meet them. So I’m asking. Did it ever occur to you?”

“Jane--”

“No! Don’t ‘Jane’ me. I am asking.”

“Blue,” Gansey took a deep breath and it cracked down the line. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think you’d want to come. It’s time you’d normally see your family. And work and such.”

“You still should have asked. I haven’t even met your parents. Do you know how ridiculous that is?”

“I didn’t think you wanted to. They’re not the kind of people you generally seek out.”

“Gansey,” Blue sighed. “It’s not about the type of people your parents are. I know very well how they are and they will not like me. But they’re  _ your parents _ . That’s what matters. I’m your girlfriend. I should meet your parents.”

“I didn’t think of it that way.”

A silence descended over the line.

“It feels like you’re hiding me,” Blue said quietly. 

“Blue, no, I would never, that’s not--”

“Gansey, I know. I’m just telling you how it feels.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Thank you.”

“Do you want to come on vacation with us?”

Blue laughed. “Let’s start with dinner, alright? I don’t think they’re ready for two weeks straight of Blue Sargent.”

“Okay,” Gansey said, and Blue could hear the smile in his voice. “I’ll set up dinner. Next weekend? Mom is gonna be in Richmond.”

“I’ll be there.”

“I’ll email you a train ticket,” he said.

“You don’t have to--”

“Yes, I do. This is a serious oversight in my boyfriend duties and I will remedy it as I see fit. And that is by buying said girlfriend her train ticket to come meet my parents.”

“Okay, okay, fine, I’ll let you buy the ticket.”

~

Blue tried to always answer the phone when Gansey called. Being long-distance was hard enough without playing phone tag. 

And sometimes Gansey really needed her to pick up the phone.

“Hey, Gansey,” she answered, marking her page in her book. “What’s up?”

“Jane,” he breathed and his voice sounded so small and she felt her own panic rise to meet his.

“Gansey? Where are you?”

“My room,” he huffed. His breathing was too quick. 

“Good, that’s good,” Blue nodded even though he couldn’t see her. “Can you breathe with me?”

She drew out her own breathing and blew it loudly into the phone. She listened as his slowed, hitching occasionally but slowing to match hers. 

“That’s real good, Gansey. Let’s keep breathing.”

They continued just breathing and listening for another minute until Gansey spoke again.

“Thanks, Jane.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“Fuck. Calculus.”

Blue barked a laugh, even though it wasn’t funny. “Exam?”

“Yeah. It sucked. A lot. I wish you were here.”

“I wish I was there, too. You want a distraction?”

“Okay,” Gansey sighed. Blue knew him well enough she could see the tension leave his shoulders as he did it. 

She smiled to herself and began a long drawn out story of her roommates’ newest spat, an argument over where each type of milk belonged in the fridge. 

By the end of the story, which Blue had embellished just a tad, Gansey was laughing and teasing her for her terrible choice in roommates. She knew he was gonna be alright.

~

Senior year prompted a lot of conversations. Not all of them ended well.

They had fought the night before and Blue felt totally drained the next day. 

Gansey wanted to decide where they would go for their respective graduate degrees, wanted to decide on a future together. And it wasn’t that Blue didn’t want that, she did. 

But the way he had said it had rubbed her the wrong way and she had lashed out. 

“It doesn’t matter where we end up, as long as I’m with you, I’m happy,” he had said. 

“What a load of privileged bullshit,” she had scoffed.

“We’ll figure it out,” he had promised.

“We’ll move when we have a plan. And jobs. And a place to live.”

“Jane, we’ll make it work! I just want to be with you!” 

She had told him she had to go and ended the call. 

Of course it mattered where they were! Of course both of them needed jobs! She absolutely refused to put herself at the mercy of his family’s money. 

So she hadn’t slept well. 

She missed Gansey. She missed  _ home _ . 

She thought sometimes those were the same thing.

Blue got back to her off-campus apartment with plans to take a nap, only to find one Richard Campbell Gansey III sitting on the stoop of her building.

“What are you doing here?”

He looked up and grinned, rising to meet her. 

“I missed you.”

Blue raised an eyebrow. 

“Can’t I just come to visit?”

“Let’s go inside,” Blue opened the door and led the way to her apartment. 

When they got inside, Gansey sat on the couch and Blue joined him, sitting sideways and looking at him.

“I’m sorry that I upset you last night. I’m just so excited to live in the same city as you. Live in the same apartment as you, if you’ll let me.”

“Really?”

“Yes! We’ve been long-distance for so long. I miss having you in my space. I know our school choices and getting jobs and money are important. I know. But it’s far more important to me that I have you.”

“You wanna move in together?”

“Nothing would make me happier, Jane.”

“I’m paying my own share of rent and utilities,” Blue pushed. 

“Of course.”

“And we’re both finding jobs.”

“Yes.”

“Where do you want to go?”

“Wherever you are,” Gansey smiled.

“Sap,” Blue smiled back.


	5. Chapter 5

Blue slammed the apartment door shut behind her and dragged Adam from the building by the wrist.

“Guess you left your manners back in Henrietta, huh?” he teased.

“Oh shut up, you know those two are happy to have time without us to plan Gansey’s proposal.”

“You think that’s what they’re doing?” Adam’s brow furrowed. 

“Of course. Gansey hasn’t said anything to you so he must be planning with Ronan.”

“Oh,” Adam said. Blue turned to look at him. 

“What?”

“Why would he tell Ronan and not me?”

“Because he knows you’d tell me?” Blue offered weakly.

“Ronan doesn’t lie.”

“He’s very good at omitting things though. And it’s not like I’m likely to ask him about it directly.”

Adam shrugged. 

Blue grabbed his other wrist.

“This isn’t about you, Adam. You know Gansey loves the both of you like brothers.”

“I know.”

“So?”

Adam shrugged again.

“Just thought he’d ask for advice, is all.”

“Maybe he will. Maybe he hasn’t even asked Ronan yet. Maybe he’s using the opportunity of today to tell him he’s got a ring hidden in his socks. Maybe he hasn’t started planning at all. We may never know. But you and I? We have a proposal to usurp. So get your head in the game, Parrish.”

Adam laughed softly. “You’re a vicious taskmaster.”

Blue grinned. “You love me anyway.”

“Course I do,” Adam smiled. “Now let’s go ring shopping.”

Blue climbed in after Adam had unlocked the car, Adam sliding into the driver’s seat. 

“Do we have a destination?”

“There’s a family-owned jewelry store not far from here, I thought we’d start there.”

“Good idea.”

“I stole his class ring, too. For sizing purposes.”

“Classic.”

Blue smiled at him and he started the car.

The shop was tucked into a strip mall and looked less than exciting, but when they entered they were greeted warmly by a middle-aged man who introduced himself as Peter. He turned out to be the owner and was very excited to help them with their less-orthodox request. 

“Most of his jewelry is yellow gold, so I want to stick with that,” Blue explained. “And nothing too fancy. I’m not sure. Nothing flashy.”

Peter nodded and began pulling some pieces from the cases and laying them out on a velvet display tray as Adam wandered around the room. 

“Perhaps a small stone inlaid? Or some light engraving?”

“Sure, let’s look at those. I don’t want it to look like a wedding band, has to be different.”

“I completely agree.”

After a few moments, Blue called Adam back over and they looked through the options Peter had laid out. 

“I like that one,” Adam pointed to a thick band with a triangle engraved on it and a tiny diamond inset in the middle. “It’s almost like--”

“The ley lines,” Blue finished for him. “Peter, if I gave you a drawing, could you engrave that instead of the plain triangle?”

“I could certainly try,” Peter smiled, pulling a piece of paper from a desk behind him. “Show me what it looks like. 

Blue took the proffered pencil and sketched out the triangle of the Henrietta ley lines, overlapping ends trailing to the sides.

Peter took it and flipped it towards himself. “The stone in the middle?” he asked, marking a spot with his finger.

“Exactly,” Blue agreed. “Though maybe an emerald instead of the diamond?”

“We can do that. It would have to be a fairly thick band. But we could do it. Let me draft a sketch for you.”

“Thank you so much,” Blue grinned at him. 

Adam squeezed her shoulder. “It’s going to be perfect.”

They wandered around the shop while Peter sketched. He beckoned them back with a smile and showed her the paper. A wide band with the etched map of the lines and a circular emerald settled in the center of the engraving. 

“Blue, it’s beautiful,” Adam whispered. 

“It’s perfect,” Blue agreed. “Thank you so much, Peter.”

“Of course. Do you know his size?”

Blue produced Gansey’s class ring from her pocket. “He wears this on his ring finger. Thankfully not every day or I wouldn’t have been able to snag it,” she laughed.

“Perfect,” Peter took the ring and dropped it onto a conical spike, reading the numbers along the side. “A ten and a half.” 

Blue took the ring back and pocketed it. Adam wandered around again as she and Peter discussed pricing and deposits and timing, giving her a little bit of privacy. She didn’t think he would ever truly be comfortable with discussions of money, even now that they were all adults earning their own wages. It was true that this had come out of her savings and every dollar was still dear to her as a graduate student, but she could afford it. 

“Alright, perfect. I’ll see you in two weeks. Thank you so much for your help,” Blue offered her hand and Peter shook it. 

“Ready, Adam?”

“Yep,” Adam agreed, coming to join her at the counter and shake Peter’s hand as well. “Thanks again, Peter.”

“Of course. And if you ever find yourself in need of a ring for a special someone,” Peter winked.

“I know who to call,” Adam laughed. 

Blue grinned and led the way out of the shop. 

“I feel like such an adult!” Blue exclaimed as she settled into the passenger’s seat. 

“You are an adult, Blue,” Adam laughed. 

“Well, more of one than usual, then.”

Adam smiled at her as she stared ahead, unseeing. 

“I’m proposing to Gansey.”

“Yes, you are.”

“Oh my God, I’m proposing to Gansey!”

Adam laughed and reached over to take her hand from where it sat on her knee.

She turned, giving him a watery smile. “Promise you won’t say anything. And if Gansey asks your opinion just tell him you’re busy or something. I need you for this.”

“You’ve got me, Blue.”

Blue let out a heavy breath and Adam turned the key in the ignition.

“Alright, let’s go back.”

“Or we could stop for gelato,” Adam suggested. 

“Without Gansey? He’d kill us.”

“Our secret,” Adam winked. 

Blue laughed and he drove them to the gelato place.


	6. Chapter 6

The first time Blue had met Gansey’s parents had been… interesting. 

Helen had been ridiculously excited as though she thought the whole evening would be utter insanity, but Gansey was trying to stay positive. 

He picked her up from the train station downtown and they went back to his apartment so she could freshen up and drop her things before dinner. 

“Jane?” he called when she still hadn’t emerged from the bathroom fifteen minutes later. 

She opened the door and leaned against the frame in a forced nonchalance. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Nothing’s wrong, just trying to tame my hair.”

“I like your hair,” Gansey gave her a smile. 

“Your parents won’t,” she frowned. 

“Blue, they’re going to love you.” 

“They are not. They want you to settle down with some equally white, equally rich woman from some equally important family.”

“They want me to be happy. And so they will love you because I love you.”

Blue met his eyes finally. 

“I don’t believe you.”

“I know.”

He held out a hand and pulled her from the door frame into his arms. She melted against his chest. 

“I don’t know why I even care. I never care if people like me,” she mumbled into his shirt.

“They’re my parents. It’s different.”

“I guess.” She looked up at him. “What do I even call them? Mr. and Mrs. Gansey?”

“I suppose,” Gansey replied. “Whatever they introduce themselves to you as is what I usually go with.”

“I know who they are, why would they introduce themselves?”

“Because that’s how the Ganseys do.”

Blue smiled finally and Gansey leaned down to kiss her forehead. 

“It’s going to be alright. I promise.”

When they arrived at the restaurant, Blue in a beautiful pink dress that Gansey was almost certain she had bought from a store and not cut up at all (though he wasn’t great with fashion) and Gansey in a shirt and tie, Helen had already arrived. 

“Mom and Dad are running late,” she said as they slid into their chairs. “Mom said five minutes so it’ll be fifteen. Good to see you, Blue.”

“Hi, Helen. How're things?”

Helen shrugged. 

“Decent. Mostly I’m excited to see how this goes,” she grinned.

Blue groaned and flopped her face down onto her arms. 

Gansey glared at his sister who gave him a mock-innocent look. 

“It’s gonna go fine because everyone here is going to be  _ nice _ , right Helen?”

“Whatever you say, brother dearest,” Helen winked at him. 

“You’re the worst,” he groaned. 

“Moi? Never.”

He glared at her another moment until Blue sat back up and leaned into him. 

“You have an escape plan, right?” she stage-whispered into his ear.

Helen laughed but didn’t raise her eyes from her menu. 

Finally, his parents arrived, fifteen minutes late as Helen had predicted. 

The three young adults stood to greet them and his mother wrapped each of her children in a brief hug before turning to Blue while his father shook Gansey’s hand. 

“And this must be Blue. I’ve heard so much about you! All good things, I promise.”

“Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Gansey.”

“Oh please, call me Harriet!”

Blue relaxed a tiny bit at the direction and shook his mother’s hand. His father turned and also insisted Blue call him by his first name while shaking her hand cordially, and finally, they all sat. 

Everyone perused their menus and chatted good-naturedly until the waiter came to take orders. His mother ordered wine for the table as well as a couple of appetizers and he whisked off again. 

“So, Blue, we’ve heard so much about you! How are you liking school? Dick says you’re studying biology!”

“Yes, ma’am,” Blue nodded. Gansey grinned at her. “I like my classes very much, I’ve always been interested in biology and ecology though there wasn’t an undergrad program for that at the state school.”

“That’s too bad. You didn’t want to go out of state?”

“Can’t afford it, ma’am,” Blue shrugged. 

His mother’s face pinkened just a tiny bit and Gansey knew she had known that and forgotten. He silently prayed Blue would let it go.

“How’s Congress, Harriet?”

She smiled her political smile and began to give her little spiel about how much she was honored to represent her constituents, etc, etc. Gansey had it half-memorized at this point. Blue nodded politely but he could tell she was holding in giggles. 

Gansey squeezed her hand where it sat atop his thigh. 

After they put in their entree orders his father began to talk about his cars. 

“Blue, I hear you like that old Camaro my son runs around in?”

Blue laughed, the first true laugh he’d heard from her all evening. “I don’t know that I’d say that. It’s got charm but I like to hear people when they speak, as a rule,” she winked at Gansey and he felt his cheeks blush. 

“Be nice to the Pig,” he mumbled. 

Helen laughed at him.

“You know, I have quite the collection of cars, myself,” his father began, and then he was off, waxing poetic about his state-of-the-art garage and beautiful antique cars that never got driven. 

Blue kept a pleasant look on her face but when he paused to take a breath she cut in. 

“I know a man needs his hobbies, but have you ever thought of donating some of that surely enormous sum of money you spend on your cars to charities for those in need?”

His father blinked before regaining his confidence. “We give a lot to charity, I assure you. Do you have particular charities you like?”

“I’ll send you a list,” Blue smiled. 

Gansey hid a laugh in a terrible fake coughing fit. Helen kicked him under the table. 

Throughout the entrees and dessert, Gansey made sure to keep the topic light and away from money. He didn’t think Blue had any more patience in that particular arena. 

Finally, they were free of the Gansey Family Gathering and back in the Pig. 

“Oh my god!” Blue laughed when she closed the door. “I cannot believe how much they talk about their  _ things _ . They own so many things they just… forget? That people can’t?  For God’s sake, your mother collects plates she doesn’t eat off of! Your father collects cars he doesn’t drive! Why?!”

“I wish I had an answer for you, Jane.”

“I knew what I was getting into but that was something else.”

“You want to rant some more or you want to go home?”

“Home. You owe me so many cuddles and at least three episodes of a trashy show.”

“Anything you want, Jane,” Richard grinned and started the Pig. 


	7. Chapter 7

The next weekend, Gansey convinced Blue to go down to Henrietta with him. He fed her some story about Ronan needing his help with something out at the Barns and that Adam had agreed to keep her occupied for the day. 

Blue gave him a grin and a kiss that meant she knew he was up to something but would let him have his secrets, so they had driven the hour north to Blue’s hometown (and the closest thing Gansey had to a hometown) and met up with their oldest friends. 

Ronan had met them at the inn in the pickup truck he had traded for the BMW when his urge to become a farmer had required some actual hauling capabilities. As they rumbled along the country roads, Gansey draped his arm out the window and breathed in the scent of Henrietta.

“Where do you wanna start?”

Gansey sighed. “I don’t know.” 

“It doesn’t have to be an important place, you know. It can just be a romantic one.”

“You’re right. This whole town is important.”

They drove around through the city park (“pretty, but not perfect”), past Nino’s (“I’m not going to propose where she worked in high school, I don’t care if we met there”), and through the neighborhood surrounding 300 Fox Way (“It would work but it seems weird to propose in her mother’s house”). 

“What about the church?” Ronan asked as they sat idling on Fox Way. 

“St. Agnes?”

“No, the church on the ley line.”

“Oh,” Gansey whispered. “That’s something, isn’t it.”

“I know it’s a bit morbid, but--” Ronan began.

“No, it’s perfect,” Gansey cut him off. “Really! Technically, it is where we first met. And… Noah would be there. This isn’t about just me and Blue. I mean, it is, but it’s all of us, too. It would mean a lot if all of us were there.”

Ronan stared at him for a long moment. 

“You want us all at your proposal?”

“I really would,” Gansey grinned at him. 

“Okay, then we’ll make it happen.” 

Ronan put the truck back into gear and drove out of Henrietta to the old church, or, well, the walls of what was once a church. 

Gansey climbed out of the cab and stood like a king surveying his kingdom. 

“Well?” Ronan joined him on the passenger side of the truck. 

“It’s perfect. I think some fairy lights up on the old stone walls. Or some candles? I’ll walk her along the path and then all of you will come out of hiding and we’ll all be together and I’ll ask.”

“Think we can get Henry to come back stateside for it?”

“He’d better come,” Gansey laughed. “I’ll get him to come. If I have to schedule it around when he’s able to I will.”

“Well, then I think we’re set. Time to head back to get Blue and Parrish?”

“Yes, you are released from my proposal schemes. Let’s go eat.”

When they got back to the inn, Blue and Adam weren’t there, but when Gansey checked his phone he had a text that they had gone out and would meet them at Nino’s “for old time’s sake” at 6:00. Gansey and Ronan had barely made it back in time.

“Guess I should have checked that first,” Gansey chuckled as he slipped his shoes back on and led the way out again. 

Nino’s hadn’t changed, for better or for worse. 

Gansey slid into a booth after Blue and Adam and Ronan slid in across from them, Ronan narrowly missing whacking his head on the low-hanging lamp. 

“Forgot about that fucker,” he mumbled as he sat down. 

“You live here, Ronan, surely you still come to Nino’s,” Blue teased.

Ronan shrugged.

“We don’t come into town much,” Adam filled in. “And Nino’s is…”

“It’s for all of us together again,” Blue agreed with his unspoken statement.

“Yeah.”

They all looked at each other for a moment before Blue turned to Gansey.

“Give me your phone.”

“What? Why?” he asked as he handed it over.

Blue didn’t answer but opened up his contacts and clicked on Henry’s name to FaceTime.

It rang for a while before Henry answered, clearly in bed.

“Gansey? It’s six in the morning, is everything alright?”

“We missed you,” Blue answered. She propped the phone up against the salt shaker, showing Henry who was at the table. 

“Hello all,” he smiled sleepily. “I miss you, too.”

“There, now we can have our pizza,” Blue declared. 

Henry chuckled and sat up, clearly agreeing to the strange conversation. 

They chattered comfortably through a pitcher of ice tea and several pizzas, Blue tucked into Gansey’s side and Adam and Ronan pressed close together in the booth across from them, Henry chattering about all the people he was meeting in his travels from the screen. 

It felt like coming home and Gansey was sure he had made the right location choice. 


	8. Chapter 8

In their junior year of college, her mother married Dean. 

Blue had long since stopped thinking of him as “The Gray Man” several years ago, and he had been firmly “Dean” ever since. 

She had joked once that the men of the family couldn’t hack it, and here was Dean proving he could. 

He had been an important part of their search for Glendower but it still surprised her how easily he melded into life at 300 Fox Way; he helped Blue with college applications, he calmed her nerves about being away from home, and he was always there to lend an ear or a hand. 

More importantly, she had never seen her mother this happy. 

She had mostly stopped stealing his personal effects long ago, though she did sometimes just for the fun of it. He usually caught her. 

When he had proposed, Maura had asked if he had talked to Blue instead of answering, and made him call her for permission before she would accept. 

(Blue gave it happily.)

They arranged the wedding so it fell over Blue and Gansey’s spring break and Gansey picked her up on the way back to Henrietta. 

Blue was her mother’s maid of honor, naturally, and she ordered around the various aunts, cousins, and friends who had descended on 300 Fox Way with authority. No one questioned her. 

After the ceremony, Maura in a gauzy cream dress Blue had helped make and Blue in a similar one in soft green, the party began. 

The backyard had been filled with tables and chairs, long buffet tables, and a dance floor had been erected. Blue still flitted about, making sure everything ran smoothly, but Gansey snagged her around the waist and pulled her into his lap where he sat at their table. 

She laughed and kissed his cheek. 

“Miss me?” she teased. 

“I always miss you, Jane,” he smiled up at her. His grey suit set off the matching green tie he wore and she smoothed it against his chest. “Sit with me for a minute?”

They sat and watched couples on the dance floor, kids running around, parents idly watching them, and older relatives surveying it all. 

They only got a couple of minutes of peace, though, before a cousin approached with a baby in her arms and a problem. Blue sighed and got up with a final squeeze to Gansey’s hand to go settle an argument between some aunt and some cousin. 

When she went to return to the table, she realized with a start that the baby had been left with Gansey. 

She paused, halfway across the yard, to take in the sight. 

Gansey sat where she had left him, the baby of about nine months seated on his thigh where he bounced happily, Gansey’s arm wrapped around his back securely and his other hand keeping a leg in place. The baby gurgled and spit up a little, and Gansey easily snagged a napkin off the table and wiped up the spit, talking to the little one throughout. 

She melted a little, sue her. It was adorable. Besides, the image of Gansey with a little mixed-race baby? It was definitely something she had imagined before. 

It was even more perfect in person. 

Gansey looked up and noticed her and grinned, still bouncing the baby. She crossed to him and sat in the chair beside the pair. 

“You make a friend?” she asked. 

“I want one, Jane.”

“You what now?” she gaped. 

“I know we haven’t really talked about it, and it’ll be a while. But I do want kids. So you know.”

“Oh, Gansey,” she sighed, then leaned over the giggling baby to kiss him soundly. The baby grabbed at her necklace and hair now that they were within arm’s length, and Blue laughed as she pulled back. 

“You’re a grabby little thing aren’t you? Who does he belong to, anyway?”

“That woman who came to get you? I don’t know her name. Or his, actually.”

Blue laughed and tickled the baby’s stomach. He shrieked with joy. 

“Is that a yes, then?”

Blue looked up at him. “Yes, it’s a yes. Someday.”

Gansey grinned. 

Shortly after, the baby’s mother came back, apologizing for how long she had been gone and informing Blue that she had a real keeper with this one, throwing a wink over her shoulder as she strode away with the baby. Gansey flushed bright red. 

“Nothing to be embarrassed about,” Blue smiled and kissed him softly. “I do have a good one here.”

“Do you ever think about getting married?” Gansey asked, his face still pink. 

“Oh,” Blue blinked. “Someday, I suppose.”

“Like, to me?”

“Yes to you, idiot.”

Gansey grinned and she smiled softly back at him. “Where’s all this coming from anyways?”

He shrugged and looked around, watching the fairy lights strung overhead twinkle for a moment before he spoke again. 

“I suppose romantic weddings like this just make me think of these things,” he told the lights. 

“Softie,” she teased. 

“You’re thinking it, too,” he took her hands.

“Maybe.”

“You wanna keep me,” he grinned.

“You planning on going somewhere?” she raised an eyebrow.

“Never.”

“Well, then that’s settled.”

They kissed again, soft in the moonlight and fairy lights.


	9. Chapter 9

The weekend after they had gone down to Henrietta, Gansey’s ring was ready to be picked up. Blue texted Adam after she got off the phone with the jeweler and immediately jumped in the Pig. 

“Blue!” Peter greeted. “You got here fast!”

She grinned. “I’m excited to see it, what can I say?”

“Well, let’s not keep you waiting then. Have a seat here and I’ll bring it out.”

Blue dropped onto the stool and tucked one leg up under her knee. Peter brought a small box out from the back and cracked it open, setting it on the counter. She reached out automatically, then pulled back.

“May I?”

“It’s your ring,” Peter smiled. 

Blue reached out and plucked the ring from its cushion. The band was wide and smooth, shined to perfection, and in the middle was the emerald she had picked out, tiny and perfect, surrounded by the crisscrossing ley lines.

“It’s gorgeous,” she whispered as she turned it in her fingers. “Thank you, Peter.”

“Glad you like it.”

“I really, really do,” she gazed at it a moment longer. “Do you mind if I --” she gestured to her phone.

“Go right ahead,” Peter allowed, stepping back to give her space. 

Blue clicked the FaceTime button on Adam’s contact.

“Did you get it?” Adam asked immediately as he picked up. 

“It’s perfect,” Blue grinned, then turned the camera around so she could show it to him, snug again on its cushion. 

“Blue, it came out wonderfully,” Adam whistled.

“Think he’ll like it?” Blue asked, the camera still pointed at the ring. 

Adam gave her a look through the phone. “Turn me around,” he demanded.

Blue did.

“Blue Sargent, that boy has been head over heels in love with you since you two were seventeen. You know he doesn’t care what the ring looks like, he’ll just be ecstatic that you’re proposing at all.”

“I still want him to like it,” Blue mumbled, admonished.

“He will. It’s beautiful.”

“Good.”

After she had paid the remaining due and Peter had packaged up the ring for her to take home, Blue slid it into her purse, well hidden from accidental discovery. 

She got home and transferred it to her own secret hiding place, nestled between winter sweaters she had no use for most of the year. 

~

The next day, Adam called. 

“Are you alone?”

“Yeah? What’s up?” Blue tucked her phone between her ear and shoulder so as to continue cooking dinner. 

“Ronan just told me. Gansey picked a location.”

“He did?”

“Do you want to know?”

“Of course I want to know, you tease!” Blue shrieked. “How else am I to usurp the proposal?”

“The church.”

“The church? We don’t go to church.”

“The church in Henrietta. On the line.”

“Oh,  _ that  _ church. Interesting choice.”

“He wants Noah there,” Adam said softly. 

“Oh, Adam,” Blue murmured. 

“Yeah,” Adam breathed over the line. 

“Does that mean you’ll all be there?”

“Yeah, that’s the plan. Ronan finally looped me in.”

“That’s absolutely beautiful.”

“Gansey is trying to figure out when Henry is in town next,” Adam continued. “So no date set yet but it’ll be soon as he can get him on the continent.”

“Oh, wow, he’s really moving, huh.”

“Mhm,” he confirmed. “You sure you wanna take over his proposal?”

“What?”

“It’s just, it sounds like it’s gonna be really beautiful and he’s working so hard. Are you sure?”

“I’ll let him have his. And then do my own. That boy is not going to rob me of the chance to give him this ring.”

“That’s fair.”

“I’ll just happen to have it on me for a ‘just in case the moment is right’ kinda thing.”

“Shrewd.”

Blue laughed. “Wow, this is really happening.”

“It really is. You ready to be Mrs. Richard Campbell Gansey III?”

“I’m keeping my name, thank you.”

“You are?”

“Yes. Taking names is ridiculous. And how weird would Blue Gansey sound?”

“Fair enough. It’s your name, after all.”

“Would you take Ronan’s?”

“No, I don’t reckon I would.”

“Well then.”

“Yep.”

~

“Cheng,” Blue greeted her friend over Skype. 

“Hello! Good to see your face, Sargent.”

“Yours as well. Did your hair get taller?”

Henry patted his hair protectively. 

“What’s up?” Blue laughed. 

“Wanted to see what your plans were for the next month or so. Thinking of swinging through your neck of the woods soon and wanna make sure you’ll be there.”

Blue picked up her phone and opened the calendar app. 

“I’m going back to Henrietta to visit my mom two weekends from now, April sixth, but otherwise I’ll be in town.”

“Perfect,” Henry smiled. “Pencil me in for three weekends from now?”

“You got it, babe,” she agreed, making a note. “Anything special?”

“Just miss you all,” Henry shrugged. 

Blue smiled but mentally noted that Gansey had gone above and beyond in securing her time for the surprise. If only he had a more unique hiding place he might have pulled it off. 

Not wanting to let on that she knew, she swung the conversation to a new restaurant she wanted to take Henry to and they talked easily for the next hour.


	10. Chapter 10

They had decided to both accept their offers from the University of Virginia. Blue would be doing a dual track masters/doctoral program in ecology while Gansey got his Masters in History, securing his promised place on the Aglionby teaching staff. 

So the summer after they had graduated from their own undergraduate programs, they were moving in together in Charlottesville, only an hour from Henrietta and Gansey was feeling closer to home than he had since their gap year together. 

They had picked up their keys that morning from the rental office and now they were walking up to their new front door. Blue inserted the key in the lock and turned, but before she could open it, Gansey swept her up bridal style and opened it himself, carrying her into the apartment as she laughed and swatted at his arm. 

“I have to carry you over the threshold of our first place together, it’s the rules,” he informed her stoically and she laughed harder. 

“That’s for newlyweds, you dork.”

“I’ll do it then, too,” he shrugged as he set her down. 

She grinned and leaned up on her toes to kiss him. “You are a romantic fool, Richard Gansey.”

“You love it,” he grinned back. 

“Yeah, I do.”

~

Learning to live together had been rough at first. 

Blue had her own version of organized chaos that Gansey found whimsical and beautiful but also constantly confusing. 

Gansey, of course, had his strange insomnia-fueled hobbies and even he could admit his habit of putting off washing dishes was annoying. 

But they set up rules and soon settled into an easy pattern. 

Blue had lab time two afternoons a week, class another two afternoons a week, taught a class two mornings a week, and spent most of her mornings, Fridays, and weekends, working on her dissertation, or at least the notes to begin it. 

Gansey took his own teaching assistant job on top of his classes and research time, much of which was spent in the library. 

When they did get a chance to see each other, it was usually late and they were both tired. 

“I miss you,” Blue whispered to him one night, wrapped in his arms. 

“I’m right here, Jane,” he whispered back. 

“I feel like I haven’t seen you in days.”

“I know.”

“So I miss you.”

“I miss you, too,” he agreed. “What are you doing on Friday?”

“Office hours until noon, meeting Aly in the research library after.”

“Done by dinner?”

“Should be. Why?”

“We’re going out,” he declared.

She turned in his arms to face him, one eyebrow raised. “Out? You know we don’t have any cash. Rent is due.”

“Don’t need cash,” he shook his head. “Wear something comfy and warm.”

“What are you up to?”

He just smiled. “Go to sleep, Jane.”

“Friday.”

“Friday.”

~

On Friday, he came home from classes without his usual stop at the library to work on his thesis, having done extra work the night before. He pulled things from the fridge and began to cook. 

By the time Blue got home, calling that she needed a shower before they went anywhere that wasn’t their couch, Gansey had cooked a full dinner and packed it carefully into a cooler with a bottle of wine. 

When Blue emerged from the bathroom, her hair clipped back and dressed in leggings, a handmade skirt, and several layers of shirts topped with a loosely knit sweater, boots, and fingerless gloves, Gansey was ready. 

She looked him over, cooler in one hand and blanket over the other arm, and raised her eyebrows. 

“Are we going to a music festival?”

“Come on,” he smiled. “You’ll like it.”

He drove her to the park she liked best, where the trees had begun to drop their leaves and left a crisp feeling in the air with the smell of autumn beginning around them. There, he took the cooler and blanket from the backseat and laid out the blanket on the grass. He set the cooler down on one corner and slipped his shoes off, dropping one each at two other corners. 

Blue smiled and dropped her bag at the last corner, sitting on the blanket with a hearty flop. 

Gansey sat cross-legged beside her and she fell sideways into his lap with a sigh. 

“This is nice,” she smiled, eyes dropping closed. 

“I haven’t even gotten out the food,” he laughed, stroking her cheek. 

She opened her eyes and gazed up at him. “You cooked?”

“I did,” he nodded. “Four-course meal.”

“Well, aren’t we fancy,” Blue grinned. She sat up and dragged the cooler to herself, but Gansey intercepted. 

“I’ve got it. Don’t want to ruin any surprises, now, do you?”

Blue’s eyes widened as she relinquished the cooler and she forced out a laugh. 

(Only after he’d said it did Gansey realize it sounded like he had been hiding a ring in the cooler.)

He unpacked the bacon wrapped melon first, and they took turns feeding each other the bites. 

Blue made a big deal about not looking in the cooler each time Gansey went back for more, letting him pull out each course, pouring more wine, fetching napkins and paper plates. 

The soup, poured from a thermos into two styrofoam bowls, had stayed hot, and Gansey mentally patted himself on the back when Blue groaned at her first bite. 

“What is in this?” 

“It’s butternut squash mostly. With a little cream.”

She kissed him and went back to her soup, sopping up the last bits with the hunk of french bread he had brought. 

“When did you make all of this?”

“I went straight home from class,” Gansey shrugged.

“Did you hit your word count for the week?”

He nodded with a smile. She was always so concerned about his thesis work. “Hit it last night so I could do all this.”

The main course was a roasted chicken and potatoes dish that he was worried wouldn’t be as good cold, but Blue seemed to enjoy it, so he dug in, too. It had worked quite well, actually. 

Finally, he pulled a container of cookies from the cooler. He had made the cookies first so they had time to cool and then had frosted them with little leaves. The piping hadn’t been pretty but the message came across. 

“Aw, they’re cute,” Blue cooed. 

Gansey shrugged and felt his cheeks heat. “More wine?”

“Certainly,” she held out her plastic cup. 

They each nibbled on a cookie but Gansey felt much too full for more than one. 

“We should do this more,” Blue said after a moment. 

“Picnics?”

“Just… be together. Not just on the couch or at night when we’re too tired to enjoy each other’s company.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Gansey held out his cup and Blue clicked hers into his. 

“Any more surprises in that cooler of yours?”

“Expecting something, Jane?”

“No,” she scoffed. “You’re just awfully protective of it.”

“Well, there’s nothing in there. But it’s not something I haven’t been thinking about.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah.”

“Me too.”

“Good.”

“Good,” she smiled, taking another drink of wine.


	11. Chapter 11

Henry arrived as planned on Friday night three weeks later. 

Blue spent Friday night with the two boys, drinking wine and telling stories, teasing each other and cuddling. The next morning, she pulled on a skirt with pockets and tucked the ring inside. She didn’t know when she would need it, after all. 

They had stayed up late into the night and she was exhausted when they made noises about driving to dinner, so she let them convince her to nap in the car. 

Curled up in the back seat of the Pig, she drifted in and out as she felt the car get on the highway and head for Henrietta. She smiled as she fell asleep, knowing she would wake up  _ home _ .

~

Gansey drove fast, worried that Blue would wake at any minute and realize they had driven up into the mountains. 

Henry checked on her every couple of minutes but she seemed to be fast asleep. 

When they got near the church, Gansey stopped and let Henry out near Ronan’s parked truck at the highway exit. They would walk down the road and meet them at the churchyard. 

He drove down the dirt road and parked off to the side of the churchyard entrance. He checked his pocket for the ring once more and studied the array of lights before him before he reached back and woke Blue. 

“Jane? We’re here.”

~

“What? Where are we?” she asked as she sat up in the back of the Pig, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “Where’s Henry?”

Gansey just smiled at her and helped her out of the car. 

Blue had known. She knew where they were going. She knew it was going to be a lovely proposal. But it still took her breath away. 

Along the remains of the walls of the churchyard and what was left of the church itself, hundreds of fairy lights were draped. Around Noah’s grave, dream flowers -- the leaves and petals all strangely shaped -- had been heaped and a lit candle sat atop the gravestone. 

Blue clapped her hand to her mouth as she stared. 

~

Gansey took Blue’s hand and led her into the churchyard. She hadn’t removed her hand from her mouth and he could tell she was trying not to cry. 

He brought her to a dry space next to Noah’s flower-strewn grave and watched as her eyes flicked up and she gasped behind her hand. Adam, Ronan, and Henry must have joined them. 

“What’s going on?” she asked, finally dropping her hand, looking at all four of them in turn but settling on Gansey. 

He dropped to one knee.

Blue watched as Gansey dropped to one knee and stuck one hand into his pocket, pulling out the ring box she had seen those many weeks ago. It looked so different here. 

She had thought she’d be less emotional knowing it was coming, but what could she say? The boy had created an atmosphere. 

“Blue,” Gansey began and Blue smiled down at him. “These last seven years, you have been my home.” 

“We’ve talked about so many things, you and I. About coming home to Henrietta. About getting married. Having kids. They’ve all been a future thing. But I need you to know I have never stopped reaching for them.”

He reached into his pocket again and pulled out a piece of paper. 

“I got the job,” he whispered as Blue read it. He had been officially offered a job teaching History at Aglionby after he finished his Masters this spring. 

~

Gansey watched as Blue read the paper and her eyes widened. 

“I know you want to move back here, too, and I think you could, even before you finish your degree, if you work with your advisor. Even if you want to stay there, I want you to know that I am going to be by your side forever, Jane. And I want you to have my ring to remind you of that.”

At this, he opened the box and held it up to her. 

“Blue Sargent, will you marry me?”

[](https://www.flickr.com/photos/75983667@N03/33785789348/in/dateposted-public/)

~ 

Blue stared at the ring, a gorgeous yellow gold with an emerald set in an ornate setting and tiny diamonds on either side, in Gansey’s hand and at the job offer she held in her own. 

She stared at Gansey’s eyes, tears already trying to force themselves from his eyes. She had the feeling her own eyes weren’t far behind. 

They were moving back to Henrietta! She may hate driving but she hated being away from Henrietta more. She would deal with commuting, she could even probably arrange it to only have to be on campus two or three times a week. 

She looked back at Gansey, whose tears had broken free and begun to slide down his cheeks as he smiled up at her. 

“Yes.”

~

Gansey grinned as Blue pulled him up and kissed him soundly. He leaned back and wiped her tears away before taking her hand and sliding the ring onto her finger. 

“Of course I’ll marry you,” Blue whispered. “Actually,” she continued, then dropped to her own knee, pulling out a ring box. 

“Richard Campbell Gansey, when I lost you, it felt like the world was ending. I never want to lose you again. Will you marry me?”

Gansey’s eyes crinkled as his tears ran anew and he nodded, pulling Blue up from the Henrietta dirt and kissing her. “Nothing would make me happier.”

She kissed him again and then slid her own ring onto his finger. 

“Is that--” he studied it.

“The ley line, yeah. I had it made custom.”

“Jane, it’s beautiful.”

“I wanted it to be perfect,” she whispered. 

He kissed her again, then turned around and smiled at the boys. 

~

Blue looked up, following Gansey’s gaze, and saw as Ronan, Adam, and Henry joined them in the churchyard and wrapped themselves around Gansey and herself. 

“That was so beautiful!” Henry cried. “You two lovebirds!”

Ronan rolled his eyes but Blue could see the pat on Gansey’s back and the nod of approval. 

Adam winked at her. He’d known about the job and kept it from her! 

Well, she’d allow Gansey one secret. 

“Can we eat now?” Ronan asked. “I’m starved.”

Now Adam rolled his eyes but went to retrieve a giant cooler from behind the churchyard wall, dragging it over and unfolding the blanket that had been sitting atop it. 

~ 

Gansey looked around at his friends and his fiancee -- and his friend’s grave -- and smiled. They were eating sandwiches Adam and Ronan had packed, wine Henry had brought, and fresh fruits and pastries Gansey had snuck into the car when Blue hadn’t been looking that afternoon. 

“So do you think you’ll move back here with Ganseyboy?” Henry asked Blue. 

“I think I can make it work. I would love to live back here again.”

“We miss you around here,” Adam agreed. 

“I miss being here,” Blue smiled up at Gansey, squeezing his hand. 

Beside him, he heard Ronan lean into Adam and ask, “Sure you don’t wanna get married, Parrish?”

“No, I’m really not,” Adam whispered back.

Gansey grinned. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave a comment of your fave flashback or something, I love to see what people think!  
> Reblog this fic on my tumblr at [blueseyforthesoul](https://blueseyforthesoul.tumblr.com/post/184411594040/she-makes-me-quiet), come cry with me about these two idiots.  
> Gibby's amazing art can be reblogged [here!](https://gibslythe.tumblr.com/post/184414313719/my-art-piece-for-the-ravencyclebigbang-i-was)  
> Also, would anyone be interested in a follow up of the wedding? Timing TBD but I'm considering it.


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